Western Counties west

Okehampton 55

Bude 5

BUDE offered little in this one sided contest. Okehampton showed glimpses of the kind of play they are capable of, and must now try to replicate the form they have demonstrated in the last two home games in their upcoming matches on the road.

Playing up the incline the Okes started brightly as they gave away another size advantage up front. Poor decision making prevented an early score as the visitors from North Cornwall struggled to cope with the pace the Okes put on the game.

Less than ten minutes had elapsed when Oke off stand-off Carl Poynton was forced to leave the field; a backline re-shuffle saw Luke Wonnacott move to stand off and Matt Dennis on as replacement full back. Wonnacott missed the resultant penalty.

Twenty three minutes had elapsed for the first score when centre Gareth Espin made a clean midfield break, and delivered an inside pass to ubiquitous back rower Simon Cox. The flanker, having a fine season, just had enough gas to take the defence over the whitewash. Wonnacott converted and Oke were up and running at 7-0.

The host's confidence was returning, and five minutes later try number two arrived.

Cox deftly slipped the ball to second rower Sam Turner who galloped away from a close range ruck, to cross mid-way out at the clubhouse end. Wonnacott converted.

To their credit Bude were still in the match, and their only real attacking weapon, the driving maul, was used to good effect to reduce the deficit after half an hour. The conversion was missed but the try gave Oke a wake up call.

Approaching before the break, Bude lost a player one to the bin.

Okehampton struck again shortly after with a Dennis double act as winger Alex made the initial break, and he offloaded to Matt to cross between the uprights. Wonnacott potted the conversion to make it 21-5.

In the substantial injury time at the end of the half the Okes scored two more. The first, a Luke Wonnacott penalty, shortly followed by a Joey Bruce interception try. The conversion was good once more, and Oke hit the interval with a healthy 31-5 lead and a bonus point already in the bag.

The second half saw the Okes to monopolise possession and stretch the Bude cover out wide.

Livewire scrum half Joey Bruce once again had a hand in most of the Okes' better passages of play. It was fitting when he got on the end of a series of slick inside passes to nip over the line for another converted try, for 38-7.

The Okes were now in total control. Tom Powell, having a robust match in the centre, was next on the score sheet as he used space effectively to cross in the bottom right hand corner for try number six. Bude briefly rallied, but failed to demonstrate any penetration before the Okes' scrum forced a penalty try which took Oke past the half century.

In the last few minutes scrum half Bruce made yet another break, which set the platform from which winger Alex Dennis pilfered a well-deserved score of his own.

That signalled the end of the encounter and a vital win in Okehampton's struggle to climb the table.

So in all, many positive signs for Okehampton, albeit against struggling opposition.